WebCE's new FL General Lines (2-20) Property and Casualty Exam Prep Complete Package will fulfill all requirements and help new recruits pass the licensing exam on the first try.

The first step in the call to action is to build a 100-day plan that will focus on ways to restore confidence and inspire action around a vision of perfection centered on customers and people.

Product photography Los Angeles is oftentimes overlooked by business owners. However, it can serve as one of the most essential marketing tools and LA Photo Team is well aware of this.

A 50 Year veteran of artistic and creative photography has created his most powerful work yet in a series of photographic monographs to share his own personal experiences and battle with depression.

Deeply committed to creating positive changes in local tourism and protecting Venetians and Venice's natural and cultural resources. Better Photo Walks' photographers and staff are always respectful of the fragile city and its inhabitants.

Latia Mone will be touring nationwide all fall of 2019 showcasing her talent to colleges and Highschool students. Crank District Entertainment is filled with many great entertainers ready to showcase and perform as well. Most talked about and known.

A national celebration of refugee talents, stories, and accomplishments

ETDS is the only professional ballroom dance competition held in East Tennessee, attracting dancers from across the country to Knoxville.

Packed with riveting routines throughout, the family-friendly film features world's top female break dancer Logan Edra, internationally decorated Special Olympian Chelsea Werner and cameo appearances by famed Olympians Nadia Comăneci and Bart Conner

Dozens of convention appearances, free merchandise and cross-country theatrical screenings of classic horror films in 2020!

Health Awareness Song Going Viral

Muralist Invites George Strait Fans to Visit Fort Worth Design District to See Tribute to King of Country Music

3D Bourne is a fun app that will allow you to generate a 3D cartoon using artificial intelligence, see it live on your table and interact with it by making it walk, run or jump.

Dr. Holstein is an award winning Selfie Filmmaker, Positive Psychologist and podcaster who helps young people overcome anxiety and alienation through multiple media channels.

University of Virginia history professor Herbert "Tico" Braun recently told his students, "You do not write alone," as he asked them to begin keeping a record of their daily lives. With Braun's concept in mind, writer Mary Ladd published a new book.

Accomplished lawyer cum musician shows off a fresh hip hop/reggae sound on his debut social justice single with eclectic remixes from musician Benjamin Patterson, supporting The Innocence Project.

BHS, Inc. has created a solution for dealers and end-users who would like to experience the manufacturer's products in person, but can't travel to the company's St. Louis headquarters.

The Forefront Roadshow is Scheduled to Gather in October and November 2019

American Veterans Honor Fund is pleased to announce the launch of an all-new Veteran Candidate Guide for military veterans interested in exploring the idea of running for office.

1 in 5 Americans Have Invisible Learning Disabilities and they ALL Deserve to VOTE in 2020

Modern parenting can be difficult, but SolePath's Dr. Debra Ford believes that those parents who adopt the SolePath method into their parenting will be able to create a stronger bond between themselves and their child.

Innovator & Multi-Genre Composer, Blythe Abigail 黄淑仁 Schulte, Gets Inspiration from Public-Private Partnerships Amid COVID-19 Crisis

The Bright Life Coach, created by Margaret Carter, offers unique techniques and weekly workshops to empower people all over the country who have depression, anxiety, or dissatisfaction with the direction of their lives.

As the coronavirus outbreak continues, many people are rightly feeling worried, stressed, depressed, and a little isolated. SolePath is looking to provide respite from all this by launching a free virtual meditation class every Monday, live on Zoom.

Author of 5 bestselling books shares her journey from finding validation from others to receiving validation from God and herself. A Struggle for the Crown that always belonged to her.

Part of economic recovery involves keeping restaurant patrons safe by boosting public health and safety practices

5 trendy tips to help you keep your summer outfits last a little longer

Celebrating The 50th Anniversary Of Earth Day

This holiday season, instead of gifting your friends and loved ones another meaningless present, let them discover their own unique power with a copy of "Unlocked: Discover How to Embrace the Unexpected" by bestselling author, Dr. Madelyn Blair.

The tenth anniversary - and final - issue is now available. The website will be shutting down this quarter.

This publication provides comprehensive construction forecasts for a broad range of segments in the U.S. and Canada, as well as information on key drivers and geographic performance.

Many homeowners struggling financially in the coronavirus pandemic worry mortgage servicers will require them to repay mortgage bills all at once.

Growing Kale: Tips on How to grow kale in your garden Kale also known as borecole is a plant that belongs to the species Brassica Oleracea. Kale plant comes in green or purple leaves. Though it belongs to the same family of cabbage, Kale plant doesn’t form a head. Kale plant is very nutritious and […]

Guide to growing Swiss chard with pictures and step by step explanation. Learn to grow swiss chard in the ground, container or in Hydroponics.

  Pollination and its importance Without pollination, you can’t have the fruits of your effort (pun intended as always ;-). Pollination is a process where the pollen from the male parts of the flower are transferred to female flower or female parts of the flower. This step has to happen for fruit set to happen. […]

Motorcycle Rally Grows

Extreme endurance motorcycle rider to attempt 9th world record, "Greatest Distance on a Motorcycle in 24 Hours (Individual)" this weekend in Uvalde, Texas. Follow live at www.carlreese.net starting on February 24, 2017.

Dallas Car Storage Wants to Help You

RideClean is an all-in-one premium ultra polisher & sealer and it's made in the USA.

The American fashion designer Victoria Napolitano will collaborate with Luca Caputo, a talented Italian with a passion for restoring classic cars and motorbikes.

Cashyourcaruae is an instant car buyer introduced in UAE. Service is absolutely commotion free and company buy cars of all makes and models and provides customers with an ideal deal in less than 30 minutes.

This newly updated website offers visitors car title loans in San Diego

The new location offers extra convenience for customers to sell cars in Dubai.

-- By Matt Barrett

Los Angeles has been a 24-hour city for much longer that most would imagine, and transit service has played an important role in keeping the city moving overnight for over 100 years.

(LAMTA Car 3022 trundles down the R Line tracks on owl service in 1963. Photo courtesy of Alan Weeks)


According to the September 11, 1906 edition of the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper, in a brief article entitled “Owl Cars Are Run on Principal Lines”:

The “owl” car service began last night. Cars on the principal lines left First and Spring streets at 1 and 2 o’clock. They were well patronized. The lines included are Boyle Heights, Grand Avenue, Vernon Avenue, University, Main Street, and Pico Heights.

At the time service began, these lines linked Downtown with what were then LA’s most populated neighborhoods around 6th and Rampart, Central and Slauson, Boyle Heights, 46th and Wesley, Vermont and 54th, and Pico and Wilton.

Owl service continued in operation as the fledgling network of streetcar lines, buses and interurban rail lines was purchased in 1911 and organized into two main transit companies: Pacific Electric, for long-distance interurban service, and Los Angeles Railway serving urban inner-city Los Angeles.

As Los Angeles grew outward, so did the length of the lines offering owl service. Special owl service guides were published and system maps included extensive owl service information for passengers.

Even as streetcar service slowly began the conversion to bus service, beginning as early as 1925 and continuing until the last rail line was shut down in 1963, owl service remained a part of the transit system – as it does today.

(This 1947 brochure advertised LAMTA's Owl Service)

Currently, Metro has 59 buses running on 26 lines during its overnight owl service, roughly midnight to 5 a.m., connecting Downtown to points north to the San Fernando Valley, south to Long Beach, east to El Monte and west to Santa Monica and Venice.

The organization CEOs For Cities released a widely-cited report last month titled Measuring Urban Transportation Performance: A Critique Of Mobility Measures And Synthesis (71p. PDF). Their research finds that the secret to reducing the amount of time Americans spend in peak hour traffic has more to do with how we build our cities than how we build our roads.

The report explains how the cities studied have managed to achieve shorter travel times and actually reduce the peak hour travel times. Some metropolitan areas have land use patterns and transportation systems that enable their residents to take shorter trips and minimize the burden of peak hour travel.

This runs counter to the conclusions of the Texas Transportation Institute's Urban Mobility Report year after year. The CEO For Cities document explains that the UMR approach has completely overlooked the role that variations in travel distances play in driving urban transportation problems.

In the best performing cities -- those that have achieved the shortest peak hour travel distances -- such as Chicago, Portland and Sacramento, the typical traveler spends 40 fewer hours per year in peak hour travel than the average American. Because of smart land use planning and investment in alternative transportation, Portland has seen its average trip lengths decline by 20%.

In contrast, in the most sprawling metropolitan areas, such as Nashville, Indianapolis and Raleigh, the average resident spends as much as 240 hours per year in peak period travel because travel distances are so much greater. The report's 20-page Executive Summary is titled Driven Apart: How Sprawl Is Lengthening Our Commutes And Why Misleading Mobility Measures Are Making Things Worse.

In The New Sharing Economy, a study by Latitude in collaboration with Shareable Magazine, the authors look at new opportunities for sharing.

An interesting graph (click to enlarge) plots various endeavors on a market saturation and latent demand scale. The resulting plot points fall into four quandrants, labeled:

Low Interest and Low Prior Success (e.g. bike, outdoor sporting goods)

Done Well Already (e.g. work space, storage space, food co-op)

Opportunities Still Remain (e.g. physical media, digital media)

Best New Opportunities (automobile, time/responsibilities, money lending/borrowing)

This last category, Best New Opportunities, provides the launch point for discussion of car sharing. The report notes that there's still a large amount of unfulfilled demand for car-sharing. More than half of all participants surveyed either shared vehicles casually or weren't sharing currently but expressed interest in doing so. For people who share in an organized fashion, cars and bikes were popular for sharing amongst family and close friends but weren't commonly shared outside this immediate network, relative to other categories of goods.

This intriguing and visually appealing report goes on to point out the new sharing takeaways for non-sharing businesses, including "we-based brands," the value in social and alternative currencies, and the "contagiousness" of sharing.

Finally, Transportation For America recently released a White Paper titled Smart Mobility For A 21st Century America: Strategies For Maximizing Technology To Minimize Congestion, Reduce Emissions And Increase Efficiency (39p. PDF).

It proposes that improving transportation efficiency through operational innovation is critical as our population grows and ages, budgets tighten and consumer preferences shift.

As Congress prepares to review and reauthorize the nation’s transportation program, an array of innovations that were either overlooked or did not exist at the time of previous authorizations can be incentivized.

Just as the Internet, smart phones and social media changed they way we acquire news, listen to music or connect with friends and family, these same innovations have implications for how we move around. While high-tech gadgets can be a problem when they distract motorists from driving, they open up a whole new world for people using other modes.

But what if we could manage traffic to help drivers avoid congestion before they get stuck in it? What if you always knew when the next bus was going to arrive, the closest parking space or which train car had a seat available for you? The innovative technologies and strategies outlined in the White Paper include:

Making transportation systems more efficient (e.g. ramp meters, highway advisory radio)
Providing more travel options (e.g. online databases to match up vanpool riders, car-sharing services)
Providing travelers with better, more accurate, and more connected information (e.g. computerized vehicle tracking)
Making pricing and payments more convenient and efficient (e.g. EZ passes, electronic benefits)
Reducing trips and traffic (flex-time, consolidating services online)

The report goes on to discuss changes in demographics and make recommendations for federal transportation policy, as well as highlight several intriguing "smart mobility case studies."

We wanted to share important (and frankly, frightening) news with you regarding the findings released last week of an audit of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

The audit (42p. PDF) was prompted in part by the loss of the Wright Brothers' original patent and maps for atomic bomb missions in Japan.

These losses led investigators to discover that some of the nation's prized historical documents are in danger of being lost for good. It follows a previous audit (66p. PDF) earlier in October highlighting oversight and management improvements, but pointing out that more action was needed.

The Government Accountability Office has also released a Summary Of Audit Findings as well as a Highlights page. The NARA website has posted a Statement in response to the audit findings from Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero.

Nearly 80 percent of U.S. government agencies are at risk of illegally destroying public records and the National Archives is backlogged with hefty volumes of records needing preservation care, the audit by the Government Accountability Office found.

The report by the watchdog arm of Congress, completed this month after a year's work, also found many U.S. agencies do not follow proper procedures for disposing of public records.

The report comes more than a year after news reports of key items missing at the nation's record-keeping agency. Some of the items have been missing for decades but their absence only became widely known in recent years.

The patent file for the Wright Brothers flying machine was last seen in 1980 after passing around multiple Archives offices, the Patents and Trademarks Office and the National Air and Space Museum.

As for maps for the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, military representatives checked them out in 1962, and they've been missing ever since.

The GAO report did not specifically mention those or other examples of missing items including Civil War telegrams from Abraham Lincoln, Eli Whitney's cotton gin patent and some NASA photographs on the moon.

Meanwhile, some documents face the threat of deterioration even though they're already at the Archives. Figures from 2009 show 65 percent of its holdings need preservation steps. In some cases, a document's condition already is so poor, it can't be read – a backlog amounting to more than 2 million cubic feet of records.

The National Archives and Records Administration has 44 facilities in 20 states, including 13 presidential libraries, funded by about $470 million this year from Congress.

NARA also maintains a "Help The National Archives Recover Lost And Stolen Documents" website.

A relatively obscure book is receiving its 15 minutes (or more) of fame this week, The Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

This set of federal standards for traffic signs, road surface markings, and signals is a primary resource to know about, so we wanted to take a closer look – especially since it is in the news right now.

New MUTCD standards announced recently require compliance over the next several years, depending on what type of changes are required.

For example, states, counties, cities and towns across America will need to increase the size of letters on street signs for roads with speed limits over 25 mph from 4 inches to 6 inches by January, 2012.

Street signs requiring new reflective lettering which is more visible at night must be installed by January, 2018.

These required changes will affect both large cities and small jurisdictions across the country. ABC News reported on some sample impacts this week:

“In Milwaukee, this will cost the cash-strapped city nearly $2 million, double the city’s entire annual for traffic control.

In Dinwiddie County, Virginia – with lots of roads but not many people – the cost comes to about $10 for every man, woman and child.”

So where did these regulations, which some may consider to be overly-bureaucratic, come from?

In the early 20^th Century, roads were promoted and maintained by automobile clubs of private individuals. Each road and highway had its own type of signage, without regard for directional assistance or safety promotion.

By 1927, the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO - the predecessor to today's AASHTO) published the first standards, titled the Manual And Specifications For The Manufacture, Display, And Erection Of U.S. Standard Road Markers And Signs, a precursor to the MUTCD that is still in use today.

The first MUTCD was released in 1935, setting standards for both road signs and pavement markings. Since then, eight more editions have been published with numerous updates that include changes in usage as well as technological improvements over the years.

Some of these changes are particularly noteworthy. It wasn’t until 1971 that all center lines were to be painted in yellow (as opposed to white) and all highway signs were required to be in white on a green background.

The most recent edition (2009) weighs in at 864 pages, dictating required standards for everything from simple items like street names and route signs to more complex topics, such as how to designate Bicycle Lane Treatment At A Parking Lane Into A Right Turn Only Lane and Examples Of Light Rail Transit Vehicle Dynamic Envelope Markings For Mixed-Use Alignments.

Additions and revisions are recommended to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) by the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD), a private, non-profit organization, which is made up of twenty-one sponsoring organizations comprised of transportation and engineering industry groups, safety-oriented organizations, and others such as the American Automobile Association.

This takes us back to this week’s controversy.

Federal standards promote safety and recognizable meanings, but when those standards are changed there will be ripple effects across local jurisdictions with limited resources to comply.

In places like Dinwiddie County, Virginia, citizens may argue that standards compliance could take funds away from education or public safety.

The Federal Highway Association says the new regulations, written under the Bush Administration, are designed to be easily read by America’s aging population. However, the FHWA announced this week a 45-day period for public comment on the new rules, “a step that could lead to easing on the guidelines,” according to ABC News.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation took matters a step further today, stating:

“I believe this regulation makes no sense. It does not property take into account the high costs that local governments would have to bear. States, cities, and towns should not be required to spend money that they don’t have to replace perfectly good traffic signs.”

LaHood tried to put a balanced spin on the controversy by summing up, "Safety is our priority, but so is good government."

Since its founding in 1965, the California Transit Association (CTA) has been a primary advocate for public transportation in the state.

The Association's team of legislative advocates works to promote multi-year transit funding and to represent transit's interests before the California State Legislature, the Governor and regulatory agencies on the local, state and federal levels.

CTA is dedicated to a collaborative approach to advocating for improved transit operations throughout California. Key to that approach is engaging our members in the advocacy process.

Members are frequently updated on policy developments through a variety of communications processes, and their participation is enlisted in numerous outreach efforts, including personal visits with elected officials, testifying before legislative committees and regulatory agencies, and conducting media relations campaigns.

To cultivate support and increased member activity, the Association strives to strategically mobilize members in key political districts and to build statewide coalitions to focus pressure on policy development.

Of increasing importance is the mobilization of organizations other than transit providers in the
cause.

CTA's partnership with such "non-traditional" transit advocates has supplemented the advocacy effort and has helped members to forge relationships with and utilize the resources of everything from nationwide public interest organizations to local ridership groups.

With support and active engagement from member organizations and other community interests, CTA is focused on implementing transit-friendly policy, a balanced transportation system, and increased transit funding.

Each year, CTA publishes a Legislative Summary that provides a synopsis and analysis of state legislation affecting public transportation and the transit-relevant components of the state budget process.

Compiled by the Association's team of legislative advocates, the annual publication is a great reference tool for those seeking information about statewide transit and transportation legislation.

The report for the 2010 legislative session (31p. PDF) is divided into three catagories:

Significant Transit Legislation: identifying and describing high-priority legislation supported by the Association, pending the Governor's signature in 2010

2010-2011 State Budget: describing the budget's impact on public transportation and the State Transit Assistance (STA) Program, and Proposition 1B allocations

Matrix Of Significant Transit-Related Legislation: Identifying the most significant transit-related legislation considered by the Association's Legislative Committee during the 2010 Legislative Session, whether enacted or not.

Once an information-seeker has located legislation of interest, they can visit the CTA's Advocacy webpage to search for the full-text of bills (as well as fact sheets, links to other reports, etc.)

The CTA website also features Legislative Bulletin Resources for recently passed legislation, and an Advocacy Archive featuring resources such as a Summary Of Provisions And Impact Of The Gas Tax Swap, as proposed earlier this year.

Oh soo cute display. Your finishes always inspire me to do something new.